The most entertaining take on this theme that I am aware of is James Fenton’s The Skip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TWZY14tGsU I had the good fortune of hearing Fenton recite this poem live, with much more youthful verve than he does in this clip, in Oxford in the mid-1980s, and of being tutored in New Testament theology by his loveably eccentric father.

I had a dream last night about Andrew Marvell’s mower poems—a loose mini-series of darkly delicate 17^th century pastoral pieces on the theme of Isaiah’s “All flesh is grass.” This week’s prompt http://maraeastern.com/2015/06/01/poetry-101-rehab-rubbish/, therefore, encouraged me to write the following nasty little poem.

I apologize in advance to anyone who may be offended by the language, content or general tone and, above all, for not being anywhere near as funny as Fenton or as profound as Marvell.

Pollution

[mid-14c “discharge of semen other than during sex,” later “desecration, defilement” (late 14c) from Late Latin… Sense of “contamination of the environment” first recorded c. 1860, but not common until c. 1955.

–Online Etymology Dictionary]

Rubbish, trash, garbage, litter,

filth, dirt, crap, excrement;

compost and manure.

Grit, grease, soil, mud, earth;

dust, ash and scree.

Detritus, debris, rubble, ruins,

clutter, junk.

Slurry, sediment, effluent, sludge;

slush, smog, soot, fumes.

Tears, sweat, blood-spatter,

guts, brains.

All life is waste;

language its gutters and drains.